7 Days Out: An Exploration of Myanmar

Planners in advertising embark upon all sorts of quests to uncover the truths about our audiences, learning about people through data and focus groups— eXploring, as we call it at Y&R. But rarely do they attempt something as ambitious as a recent Y&R project: seven days of literal exploration in Myanmar, a country that’s a mystery to the outside world.

Through the pains of early British colonization and decades of military rule, today’s Myanmar is finally emerging from isolation. We wanted to understand this wildcard of a country—and potential new market. Rather than researching from a distance, we explored the country. The result is a new VICE Media/Y&R collaboration: an adventurous, groundbreaking new series called "7 Days Out."

The collaboration was the brainchild of VML’s Rahul Chawra, planning director of VML Qais in Singapore. Vice Media sent VML India Planner Siddharth Seth to Yangon, the cultural capital of Myanmar, where he immersed himself for seven days in its culture and uncovered unexpected and inspiring insights.

In the series' first installment, "The New Faces of Yangon," Seth met with modern day artists, spiritual leaders, business innovators, and trailblazers like Thazin Nyut Aung from the female rap group Y.A.K. "I get inspiration from celebrities like Beyonce and Rihanna," Aung said. "During the special political time, we fear getting caught because of the sensitive lyrics when we are performing. The government here doesn’t need any reason to catch people. We will keep singing Hip Hop songs until the end of our lives."

We invite you to check out this venture into Myanmar's lush and mysterious culture on Youku and Tencent.